Abeydeera Wijewickrema Punchihewage Don Davit de Silva

Don Davit

Don Davit  was known as Davit Mudalali. 

Don Davit built his house, Siri Nivasa at 264, Galle Rd. Gintota. The property was located between the Gintota Station Road & Galle Rd. & occupied a major area of that space.

He married twice. 

His first wife was the sister of a close neighbour, K. C. Juanis de Silva, known as Juanis Mudalali, who lived at 255, Galle Rd, Gintota & was a prosperous businessman.  She bore him one daughter & three sons. They were : Grace, Charles, Baron & Simon.

On the death of his first wife, he married Ms. Ratnaweera from Wackwella. Details about her are not known. She bore him three daughters & three sons.  They were : Louisa, Maggie, Muriel, Henry, Porolis & Alfred.

Second wife of Don Davit around 1905

There is some uncertainty about the year in which Don Davit passed away. Some sources record that he passed away in 1915/1918. However, the Register of Voters for 1923 contain the following entries :

SUPPLEMENT TO THE Ceylon Government Gazette 
PART I. No. 7,328 — FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1923.
REGISTER OF YOTERS FOR THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE.

Extract from page 3 under Ward 3
183 Davith Abeydeera Wijewiekrama, Punchi Hewage Don, 291, Bazaar, Galle

Extract from Page 5 under Ward 5 
505 Davith, Abeydeera Wijeratne Punchi Hewage Don , 264, Gintota, Galle

Accordingly, he may have passed away in 1923 or thereafter.

With his passing, the Colombo branch of the business came under the purview of Simon, & the Galle branch under Henry.

The second Mrs. Don Davit passed away around 1945, & the ancestral house was sold thereafter. By this time, the business of Don Davit & Sons at Galle which was managed by Henry had been wound up. The other occupants of the house at the time were Henry, his wife Norah & daughter Indrani, Henry's elder brother Charles, & Henry's elder sister Maggie's widowed daughter Nancy & her 2 children. (Her 3rd child died as an infant earlier at Gintota). Henry & family shifted to Colombo. Charles was found accommodation in an Elders' Home , & a rented house at Kaluwella Galle was found for Nancy & the 2 children.

The Colombo branch managed by Simon too was wound up sometime later.

Details about the firm of Don Davit & Sons , about Don Davit appear below :

Extract from pages 486 & 489 of the 20th Century Impressions of Ceylon by Arnold Wright

"The firm of Don Davit & Sons was founded by A. W. P. Don Davit de Silva in 1875 at Galle, for the importation of spices and foodstuffs from India. At the commencement only a small trade was done but after four or five years the business  became firmly established and the importation of rice from Calcutta was also undertaken. By degrees the business was extended, and soon the trade mark of the firm became well known all over the country, and a very large trade was done in rice, imported from all Indian ports, as well as from the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States. Sugar, another article in which the firm deals largely, comes from Austria and Hamburg;  while flour is imported from Victoria and Southern Australia, all kinds of grains and cereals from India, and coconut oil is largely dealt in. Another commodity in which the firm does a big trade is barbed wire for fencing purposes, and they have made a speciality in horse-food, of which they are the largest importers. Some idea of the magnitude of this business can be gathered from the fact that they import, on an average, 50,000 bags of rice a month and 40,000 bags of horse-food a year. 

In Galle High Street, Messrs. Don Davit have a rice depot and grocery store, and the general store and head office are also situated in that town.

Exterior & Interior of Rice Depot in Galle Bazaar

Head Office in Fort, Galle

Galle Office Staff with Don Davit & Henry Don David

They have branches at 49, 51, and 69, Fourth Cross Street, Colombo and at Lower Chitpore Rd. Calcutta, and also at Cocanada.

Colombo Office on Fourth Cross St.

Colombo Office Staff with Simon de Silva/Abeydeera

Lower Chitpore Rd. Calcutta where Don Davit had a branch

At Galle, the firm has a large yard where coconut oil, which is bought up from various small dealers, is filtered by special machinery, after which it is exported to England, the United States, and the continent of Europe generally. 

Coconut Oil Yard at Galle

Other articles of export dealt in by this firm are desiccated coconut, citronella oil, cinnamon oil, coir yarn, rope, poonac ,fibres, and copra , principally to Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States. At Hikkaduwa, in the Southern Province, the firm owns a large coconut estate.

The founder of the firm was the son of a local merchant ,who started business with his father at Tangalle, in the Southern Province. He is an ardent Buddhist, and renewed and equipped the temple at Ahangama, as well as the school at Gintota. He is a great friend of the poor, and is ever ready to help deserving cases which call for the exercise of charity. An admirable feature of the business is that there is a benevolent fund made up from a certain percentage of the turnover, and every year some 5,000 people are clothed and fed on a special almsgiving day. 

Mr. A. W. P. Don Davit , the senior partner, presides over the Galle house., Mr. A. W. P. Simon de Silva manages the Colombo branch, and Mr. A. W. P. Baron de Silva is general manager for India. The junior partners, who are smart business men, were educated at local colleges and Mr. Simon de Silva is a member of the Theosophical Society ,besides being a keen sportsman."

Advt. in the 1898/99 Ferguson's Directory

Extract from an Article in the Weekend Newspaper of June 24, 1968

  MIGHTY MUDALALIS OF GALLE   BY WILLIAM PEIRIS

"The prince among them was Davith mudalali (A.W.P. Don Davith). He had a branch establishment in Colombo as well in 4th Cross Street. As many as a hundred bullock carts used to call at his store each day for rice and other foodstuffs. A well built man of commanding personality , he wore a white cloth and coat and pair of leather sandals. He had his hair tied in a knot and adorned with a bright tortoise-shell circular comb (nemipana).  His well trimmed moustache added dignity to his handsome face.

 

He did not have the mudalali trait of the closed fist . He spent lavishly and was generous to his friends and relatives. He lived in grand style in a palatial mansion in Gintota and kept a fine pair of horses and an elegant phaeton. When the motor car made its appearance for the first time in the early years of the present century , he was among the first to purchase one. The first class carriage in the train was then the exclusive preserve of the 'white sahib' - the ruler of the land. But Davith mudalali refused to believe that he was inferior to the white man. He always travelled first class ,sitting cheek by jowl with the European official and planter , much to the chagrin of the latter. He died comparatively young. His younger son did not carry on the business for long."

Extract from Page 121 of the book Rise of the Karava Elite by Dr. Michael Roberts

Among the typical forms of Sinhalese business were (i) trading enterprises in the plantation districts which served as general merchants, dealers in rice and other foodstuffs, and (before 1890) as coffee dealers; and (ii) import—export firms located at Galle or Colombo. S. C. Fernando and Bros and P. W. Dias and Co. (both Karava firms) are examples of the former." The firm of Don Davith and Sons represents an example of the latter. A Karava from Ahangama, A.W. P. Don Davith Mudalali established a small import trade in foodstuffs at Galle in the year 1875. Within a short time he expanded his business to encompass rice imports from Calcutta and various categories of foodstuffs imported from elsewhere in the world. In return he exported coconut oil. By 1907 it was claimed that he imported 600,000 bags of rice and 40,000 bags of horse-food every year. Besides the central office premises at Galle, his firm had a coconut-oil yard (where oil was machine-processed), a large store and branch offices at Colombo, Calcutta and Co-canada. A Buddhist philanthropist, A. W. P. Don Davith de Silva, was prone to generosity and conspicuous consumption, and his enterprise went into financial decline at a subsequent date."

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